Finished!

27 July 2008

We packed a bunch of work into a very few days this past week, and now we're recovering at home! First, we finished up the new excavation in the cave. By a stroke of luck, the floor of the excavation coincided almost exactly with the length of Liz's arm, so we were able to fully excavate the new deposit and not feel like we were leaving material behind. We spent a few days sieving the rest of the material, then went back to the cave one last time to fill in all the deposits, including my deposit from last year! It was so strange to see the pit filled in with rocks, and we all were fairly sore from lugging rocks into the various pits. Here's a group photo of the excavation crew- from left: Becca, Jessica, Uma, Liz, Clara, Tony, and Ariel.



We also did some extra mammal trapping, both at the cave and at a high elevation site near Castle Crags State Park. The extra trapping was worth it! We caught (and released) a ringtail (Bassariscus astutus) at the cave, which we think is leaving scats in various pockets of the cave. We also caught some chipmunks, a flying squirrel, and a rabbit at the high-elevation site! Here's the full species list from the summer, first the species we actually trapped, then the species we saw:

Trapped:
Peromyscus maniculatus (deer mouse)
Peromyscus boylii (brush mouse)
Neotoma fuscipes (dusky-footed woodrat)
Microtus californicus (California vole)
Mephitis mephitis (striped skunk)
Spermophilus beecheyi (California ground squirrel)
Bassariscus astutus (ringtail)
Tamias sp (chipmunks)
Glaucomys sabrinus (Northern flying squirrel)
Sylvilagus sp. (bachmani?) (brush rabbit)
Sorex trowbridgii (Trowbridge's shrew)
Scapanus latimanus (broad-footed mole)

Saw:
Sciurus griseus (western gray squirrel)
Tamiasciurus douglasi (Douglas squirrel)
Odocoileus hemionus (mule deer)
Lepus californicus (black-tailed jackrabbit)
Urocyon cinereoargenteus (gray fox)
Ursus americanus (black bear)

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I published a bunch of field photos on my picasa webgallery, so check out the full range of photos from this summer's field season!

Shasta 2008- Mammal trapping and excavation